Sphere to buy stake in HPAL project

Australia’s Nickel Industries is to sell a 10% share of the Excelsior Nickel Cobalt high-pressure acid leach (HPAL) project in Indonesia to South Korea’s Sphere Corp. The $240 million price tag represents a $2.4 billion valuation for the company. Sphere will acquire the stake from Hong Kong-based Decent Resource, while Nickel Industries will retain its 44% stake in the project, according to Nickel Industries.

The ENC HPAL project, being built in Indonesia’s Central Sulawesi, will be the first HPAL project with the capacity to produce mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP), nickel sulphate, and nickel cathode, according to Nickel Industries.